Crochet Baby Hat

`Crocheted a couple of these jobbies this week for all those soon-to-be babies in my life... Super simple (a one-nighter) and pretty cute. I'm still getting my sea legs with regard to crochet, so crocheting in the round for the first time was a bit of a challenge, but they came out pretty well! I used Cottontots yarn in Wonder Dreams, a variegated pastel cotton yarn.
Probably looks cuter on a real baby.

Carne Asada Tacos

Last week, Amy made some carne asada based on this recipe from the LA Times. She switched things up a bit, using straight adobo sauce instead of tomato sauce plus chipotle plus adobo, and with significantly less oil. Pretty good overall!I think if we made it again, we'd add more heat and perhaps a little more salt to the marinade. Also, our steak must have been thicker than the one used in the recipe, as it took much longer to cook to medium rare.

Not pictured, but totally awesome with the carne asada: homemade tomatillo salsa. Mmm...

Turquoise and Gold Crochet Necklace

The Lizinator had a birthday this weekend. We had a lovely evening drinking sangria and playing a little bocce on the patio at Vinoteca. I made her this pretty crochet necklace with gold wire, turquoise chunks, howlite barrels and gold filigree beads. We ate chocolate cake with the fudgiest chocolate frosting I've ever had. Good stuff.

Asparagus, Pepper and Steak Stir-Fry

Again, to Tim's dismay, the spring asparagus just keeps rolling in from the CSA... I thought I'd shake things up by cooking the asparagus in a stir-fry- turned out pretty well!

I based the stir-fry on this recipe from Simply Recipes, but rather than use flank steak, I used some shaved steak that Tim picked up at Trader Joes to make cheese steaks. I sprinkled sesame seeds on at the end for some crunch.

Chile-Braised Pork Tacos with Rhubarb Salsa

Amy bought some tasty looking pork shoulder from Truck Patch Farms via the 14th and U Street Farmers Market, and we had some dried chiles leftover from a delicious batch of pozole she made a few weeks ago. Put them together and you get... ta da... chile-braised pork shoulder tacos! Pretty tasty! I think perhaps next time I would leave a couple seeds in the chiles, though, as it wasn't as spicy as I was hoping for.Coupled with some rhubarb salsa (loosely based on this recipe, but simplified even more- just lime juice, scallion, jalapeno, cilantro, a pinch of sugar), the tacos were a tasty treat. I served them along with some black beans with toasted corn, and followed them up with some delightful Mexican spiced chocolate pudding (which I made a few years ago and loved).

Asparagus Pizza

Mmmm... asparagus season continues, much to Tim's dismay and my delight.

Slice the asparagus thinly on the bias, mix up some chopped tomato with minced garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes, olive oil and salt & pepper. Throw it on whole wheat pizza dough with some mozzarella. Bake it super hot on a baking stone.
Good stuff.

Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets

One of Tim's all-time favorites is strawberry-rhubarb pie. Luckily it's easy to come by these ingredients at the CSA in the spring. Armed with super ripe berries and tart rhubarb, I decided to use a recipe for lattice-topped mini-tarts that I found in Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts cookbook (snagged, along with her cookie book, for a cheap price at TJ Maxx on Friday). I tweaked the recipe a little bit to my taste, as described below, and they came out great! Not too sweet, super buttery crust.

Here's how I adapted the filling:

2 cups strawberries, cut into tiny dice

3 stalks rhubarb, cut into tiny dice (about 1.5 cups)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 TBS orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier

3/4 cup sugar